YCLSA on 2017 Matric Results and the Joe Slovo Right To Learn Campaign

5 January 2018

The YCLSA (uFasimba) would like to take this moment to congratulate the class of 2017 for such encouraging results.

We pass this message of congratulations fully aware that others, especially those from the deepest of our rural areas wrote these exams under difficult conditions and without proper infrastructure and still managed to pull through.

We would also like to send a message of hope to those who did not make it not to give up and to make use of available rewrite opportunities. The YCLSA as an organisation is combat ready to assist both those who will be looking for access in institutions of higher learning and those who have not made it.

We would also like to commend educators majority of those led by the progressive SADTU, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas who gave it all despite lack of support and adequate infrastructure to make their work more easier and quicker.

While provincial performance rankings seem to take priority, the YCLSA would like to caution the public about the different conditions each province has to encounter. These includes but not limited to, the number of schools in the province, the number of rural schools in a province which more often than not lack support and adequate infrastructure.

As the YCLSA we have struggled for free education for the poor, and we welcome the phasing in of it. In the context of our struggle for socialism, we have called for the control and ownership of the commanding heights of the economy by the people&#039;s state so that private profits are turned into national assets in general and national finances in particular to fund free education. We hope with this declaration of free education, the people&#039;s government will prioritise the struggle of its people than the unexplainable nuclear deal which will collapse our fiscals instead of investing in education.

In the meantime, the introduction of a radical phase of progressive taxation (taxing the rich and corporate entities) as a progressive reform for redistributive purposes would be far-reaching.

If such would happen, we would not be mired into endless debates about where to get money to fund free education. The imminent problem we are likely to face if we don&#039;t radically turn the tide, is an explosion of student debt. We call on the writing-off of all students debts.

We cannot afford to be held at ransom by a multi-million student loan industry that makes millions out of poor student&#039;s misery. We equally condemn Universities which sell student loan books to private debt dealers who harass indebted students day in day out.

Our organisation will now be embarking on the Joe Slovo Right to Learn Campaign by all our structures. This is an annual campaign that ensures that the doors of learning are opened for children of the working class and the poor. We have noted the unconvincing articulation of the minister on the pronouncement made by the President. This is a year of free quality education for the poor and as an organisation we will stop at nothing to ensure we live up to the pronouncement.

Our foot soldiers and branch leaders will be in all campuses to ensure students receive adequate support during registration. We would like to remind all poor students not to pay registration fees or upfront payments. We call on our branches in institutions of higher learning to be vigilant and firm in this regard.

Every YCLSA structure must be on the ground to selflessly assist poor learners. We call upon every young persons to join hands with the YCLSA in making sure that every poor young person who has to be at school gets access to education. This will include many post-schooling options since spaces in universities are not sufficient to accommodate everyone.